1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor light-emitting element and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a nitride semiconductor light-emitting element having a principal plane of an m-plane has been researched and developed actively to improve an illumination efficiency. This is because a nitride semiconductor light-emitting element having a principal plane of an m-plane is free from piezoelectric field, which decrease luminous efficiency. Hereinafter, a nitride semiconductor light-emitting element having a principal plane of an m-plane is referred to as “m-plane nitride semiconductor light-emitting element”.
US Pre-Grant Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0126902 discloses an m-plane nitride semiconductor light-emitting element. As shown in FIG. 11, this m-plane nitride semiconductor light-emitting element comprises an n-side electrode 30, an n-type nitride semiconductor layer 21, an active layer 22, a p-type nitride semiconductor layer 23 and a p-side electrode 40. A voltage is applied between the n-side electrode 30 and the p-side electrode 40 to emit light from the active layer 22.
According to the paragraphs 0161-0166 of US Pre-Grant Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0126902, this m-plane nitride semiconductor light-emitting element is fabricated as below. First, the n-type nitride semiconductor layer 21, the active layer 22 and the p-type nitride semiconductor layer 23 are epitaxially grown in this order on a substrate 10.
Then, a portion of the n-type nitride semiconductor layer 21, the active layer 22 and the p-type nitride semiconductor layer 23 is removed by dry etching using a chlorine-based gas to expose the n-type nitride semiconductor layer 21. The p-side electrode 40 and the n-side electrode 30 are formed on the p-type nitride semiconductor layer 23 and the portion of the n-type nitride semiconductor layer 21 which has been exposed by dry etching, respectively.